Accessory breast
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Accessory breasts, also known as polymastia, supernumerary breasts, or mammae erraticae, is the condition of having an additional breast. Extra breasts may appear with or without nipples or areolae.
A related condition, in which extra nipples form, is called "supernumerary nipple" or "polythelia".
Mythology
In mythology, attributes are exaggerated or multiplied to emphasize their efficacy. For example, Priapus has been depicted with an oversized penis, and Artemis of Ephesus has been portrayed as having tier upon tier of what may be breasts, as tradition has it, or sacrificed bull testes, as some newer scholars claim. Priapus' gigantic phallus underscores his virility and his fertility, while Artemis' tiers of breasts, if so they are, would highlight her ability to nurture.
In Hindu Mythology, the goddess Meenakshi of Madurai was born with three breasts. According to a prophesy, She would lose her third breast on meeting the man of her dreams, which happens to be Lord Sundareswara, an incarnation of Lord Shiva.
In popular culture and fiction
Accessory breasts and supernumerary nipples have often been the subject of popular speculation and urban legend. The additional-breast motif has also been used in motion pictures, TV shows, novels and other works of fiction:
- (1978) In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novel series, Eccentrica Gallumbits, the Triple-Breasted Whore of Eroticon 6, is a frequently alluded-to character.
- (1982) The film The Sword and the Sorcerer features a dancer with two breasts in the normal positions and a third centered below them.
- (1983) A six-breasted dancer, Yarna d'al' Gargan, appears in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
- (c. 1983) In the Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 universes, daemonettes (female demons) of the god Slaanesh have six breasts: two pairs of smaller breasts below their "normal" breasts along the milk lines. Previous depictions of daemonettes have also featured three breasts.
- (1984) A similar fantasy filmic exotic dancer in The Warrior and the Sorceress has four breasts, two appearing below the regular pair.
- (1989) Star Trek V had also had a three-breasted cat-like exotic dancer.
- (1990) The movie Total Recall features a mutant prostitute with three side-by-side breasts (a likely homage to Eccentrica Gallumbits, above).
- (1998) In the video game Parasite Eve, the antagonist, Mitochondria Eve, is shown with multiple breasts at one point in the game.
- (2002) In the Adam Sandler movie Eight Crazy Nights, a woman has three breasts.
- The Simpsons' Krusty the Clown has a famous "superfluous nipple".
- Chandler Bing from Friends has a third nipple, which repulses a date (who, ironically, he was about to reject because she has a prosthetic leg). Later he has the "nubbin", as he calls it, surgically removed...but then misses it, feeling it had some supernatural humor power, and losing it made him less funny.
